A new approach to irreversibility in deep inelastic collisions

We use concepts of statistical mechanics to discuss the irreversible character of the experimental data in deep inelastic collisions. A definition of irreversibility proposed by Ruch permits a unified overview on current theories which describe these reactions. An information theoretical analysis of the data leads to a Fokker-Planck equation for the collective variables (excitation energy, charge and mass). The concept of mixing distance can serve as a quantitative measure to characterize the “approach to equilibrium”. We apply it to the brownian motion as an illustration and also to the phenomenological analysis of deep inelastic scattering data with interesting results.     

From quantal multiple scattering theory to a classical transport equation—A soluble model for nucleon-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at high energy

Several ad hoc models describe inelastic nucleon-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at high energy. Why do they work and how are they related? We investigate this question by studying an exactly soluble model. It is based on Glauber's multiple scattering approach. The following results are derived and discussed: (1) The inclusive cross section for the observation of one nucleon is the space integral of a Wigner transform. (2) The Wigner transform obeys a classical transport equation. (3) The equation is equivalent to the Boltzmann equation at high energy. (4) The interpenetration of two nuclei is viewed as a diffusion phenomenon governed by a Fokker-Planck equation. (5) Hydrodynamic equations are shown to yield approximate solutions to the transport equation. (6) A kind of thermal equilibrium is quickly reached in a nuclear collision process. (7) The equilibrium equation of state corresponds to an ideal gas with two degrees of freedom.     

A moment approach to non-Gaussian colored noise

The Langevin system subjected to non-Gaussian colored noise has been discussed, by using the second-order moment approach with two kinds of models for generating the noise. We have derived the effective differential equation (DE) for a variable x, from which the stationary probability distribution P(x) has been calculated with the use of the Fokker-Planck equation. The result of P(x) calculated by the moment method is compared to several expressions obtained by different methods such as the universal colored noise approximation (UCNA) [Jung and Hänggi, Phys. Rev. A 35 (1987) 4464] and the functional-integral method. It has been shown that our P(x) is in good agreement with that of direct simulations (DSs). We have also discussed dynamical properties of the model with an external input, solving DEs in the moment method.     

Dynamics of the magnetic moment in a polarized Boltzmann gas allowing for dissipation

An equation is derived for the dynamics of the spin magnetic moment in a polarized Boltzmann gas allowing for spin loss processes. The general form of the T matrix for collisions between two spin 1/2 particles allowing for inelastic processes is used. It is shown that the rate of spin loss depends on the degree of polarization of the gas. As a result, the damping of deviations of the magnetic moment from the average becomes anisotropic where the degree of anisotropy depends on the amplitude of the zero-angle scattering of atoms.     

Microscopic transport theory of heavy-ion collisions

Transport equations of the Fokker-Planck type are derived from a master equation for deeply inelastic collisions. Using the method of spectral distributions, the transport coefficients are calculated for symmetric fragmentations. Analytic formulas are given for the memory time, for the energy-drift coefficient and for the diffusion coefficients which correspond to the excitation of the fragments and the transfer of nucleons. These expressions contain parameters of the basic interaction matrix elements only, which describe excitations and transfers. Agreement with experimental data is obtained for reasonable values of these interaction parameters. Production cross-sections are predicted for superheavy nuclei in the deeply inelastic collisions U+U and U+Cf.     

Electron distribution function in a weakly ionized He-Hg mixture

The electron energy distribution functions for He-Hg mixture in a uniform electric field are calculated for differentE/N and relative mercury concentration? from fundamental cross-section data. The Boltzmann equation is applied considering the elastic and inelastic collisions of electrons with neutrals of the both components. From these distributions and elastic collision cross-section (for He and Hg) drift velocity, diffusion coefficient and mean electron energy are computed. The electron energy losses in elastic and inelastic collisions over the considered region of the parameters are discussed.     

Quantum mechanical masterequation and Fokker-Planck equation for the damped harmonic oscillator

For the statistical operator of the damped harmonic oscillator a Masterequation is given in operator form describing both inelastic and elastic, purely phase destroying processes. By expressing the statistical operator in the diagonal representation with respect toGlauber's coherent states the Masterequation is transformed into a Fokker-Planck equation forGlauber's quasiprobability distribution function. The general solution of this Fokker-Planck equation is calculated. It is shown how the solution of a Masterequation can be used for calculating correlation functions and expressions are given for the amplitude and intensity correlation functions which are in complete formal agreement with the corresponding classical formulae.     

Do thermal fluctuations destroy the concept of a critical angular momentum?

We estimate the influence of thermal fluctuations in heavy-ion induced deep inelastic and fusion reactions by means of a one-dimensional Fokker-Planck equation. Approximating the fusion barrier by an inverted harmonic oscillator, we find an expression for the range of angular momenta ΔJ over which the transmission coefficient falls from 1 to 0. Numerically, ΔJ is fairly but not insignificant, and becomes larger for incident energies near the barrier.     

Initial state effects on J/ψ production at RHIC energy: from d+Au to Au+Au

We present a calculation of the cold nuclear matter effect on inclusive production of J/ψ in d+A and A+A collisions in the framework of the gluon saturation/CGC approach. Our model is based on the observation that the leading production mechanism involves odd number of inelastic interactions with the nuclei. Our numerical calculations are in good agreement with the experimental data in the case of d+Au collisions. However, in Au+Au collisions the cold nuclear matter effect is not suffcient to describe the data.     

Kinetic Theory of Polydisperse Granular Mixtures: Influence of the Partial Temperatures on Transport Properties—A Review

It is well-recognized that granular media under rapid flow conditions can be modeled as a gas of hard spheres with inelastic collisions. At moderate densities, a fundamental basis for the determination of the granular hydrodynamics is provided by the Enskog kinetic equation conveniently adapted to account for inelastic collisions. A surprising result (compared to its molecular gas counterpart) for granular mixtures is the failure of the energy equipartition, even in homogeneous states. This means that the partial temperatures Ti (measuring the mean kinetic energy of each species) are different to the (total) granular temperature T. The goal of this paper is to provide an overview on the effect of different partial temperatures on the transport properties of the mixture. Our analysis addresses first the impact of energy nonequipartition on transport which is only due to the inelastic character of collisions. This effect (which is absent for elastic collisions) is shown to be significant in important problems in granular mixtures such as thermal diffusion segregation. Then, an independent source of energy nonequipartition due to the existence of a divergence of the flow velocity is studied. This effect (which was already analyzed in several pioneering works on dense hard-sphere molecular mixtures) affects to the bulk viscosity coefficient. Analytical (approximate) results are compared against Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations, showing the reliability of kinetic theory for describing granular flows.     

Distribution function for classical and quantum systems far from thermal equilibrium

We consider a system composed of many subsystems which are coupled to individual reservoirs at different temperatures. We show how the solution of a many-dimensional Fokker-Planck equation may be reduced to a Fokker-Planck equation of dimensionn, wheren is the number of relevant constants of motion. We treat also a Fokker-Planck equation with continuously many variables and the time-dependent one. The usefulness of the present procedure to determine explicitly distribution functions is exhibited by several examples. If all temperatures are equal the Boltzman distribution function is obtained as a special case. Using the method of quantum-classical correspondence, the distribution function for quantum systems may be found.     

A comment on the paper “Stochastic feedback, nonlinear families of Markov processes, and nonlinear Fokker-Planck equations” by T.D. Frank

The purpose of this comment is to correct mistaken assumptions and claims made in the paper “Stochastic feedback, nonlinear families of Markov processes, and nonlinear Fokker-Planck equations” by T. D. Frank [T.D. Frank, Stochastic feedback, non-linear families of Markov processes, and nonlinear Fokker-Planck equations, Physica A 331 (2004) 391]. Our comment centers on the claims of a “non-linear Markov process” and a “non-linear Fokker-Planck equation.” First, memory in transition densities is misidentified as a Markov process. Second, the paper assumes that one can derive a Fokker-Planck equation from a Chapman-Kolmogorov equation, but no proof was offered that a Chapman-Kolmogorov equation exists for the memory-dependent processes considered. A “non-linear Markov process” is claimed on the basis of a non-linear diffusion pde for a 1-point probability density. We show that, regardless of which initial value problem one may solve for the 1-point density, the resulting stochastic process, defined necessarily by the conditional probabilities (the transition probabilities), is either an ordinary linearly generated Markovian one, or else is a linearly generated non-Markovian process with memory. We provide explicit examples of diffusion coefficients that reflect both the Markovian and the memory-dependent cases. So there is neither a “non-linear Markov process”, nor a “non-linear Fokker-Planck equation” for a conditional probability density. The confusion rampant in the literature arises in part from labeling a non-linear diffusion equation for a 1-point probability density as “non-linear Fokker-Planck,” whereas neither a 1-point density nor an equation of motion for a 1-point density can define a stochastic process. In a closely related context, we point out that Borland misidentified a translation invariant 1-point probability density derived from a non-linear diffusion equation as a conditional probability density. Finally, in the Appendix A we present the theory of Fokker-Planck pdes and Chapman-Kolmogorov equations for stochastic processes with finite memory.     

Conditional quadrature method of moments for kinetic equations

Kinetic equations arise in a wide variety of physical systems and efficient numerical methods are needed for their solution. Moment methods are an important class of approximate models derived from kinetic equations, but require closure to truncate the moment set. In quadrature-based moment methods (QBMM), closure is achieved by inverting a finite set of moments to reconstruct a point distribution from which all unclosed moments (e.g. spatial fluxes) can be related to the finite moment set. In this work, a novel moment-inversion algorithm, based on 1-D adaptive quadrature of conditional velocity moments, is introduced and shown to always yield realizable distribution functions (i.e. non-negative quadrature weights). This conditional quadrature method of moments (CQMOM) can be used to compute exact N-point quadratures for multi-valued solutions (also known as the multi-variate truncated moment problem), and provides optimal approximations of continuous distributions. In order to control numerical errors arising in volume averaging and spatial transport, an adaptive 1-D quadrature algorithm is formulated for use with CQMOM. The use of adaptive CQMOM in the context of QBMM for the solution of kinetic equations is illustrated by applying it to problems involving particle trajectory crossing (i.e. collision-less systems), elastic and inelastic particle–particle collisions, and external forces (i.e. fluid drag).     

Quasi-exactly solvable Fokker-Planck equations

We consider exact and quasi-exact solvability of the one-dimensional Fokker-Planck equation based on the connection between the Fokker-Planck equation and the Schrödinger equation. A unified consideration of these two types of solvability is given from the viewpoint of prepotential together with Bethe ansatz equations. Quasi-exactly solvable Fokker-Planck equations related to the sl(2)-based systems in Turbiner’s classification are listed. We also present one sl(2)-based example which is not listed in Turbiner’s scheme.     

Asymptotic of Grazing Collisions and Particle Approximation for the Kac Equation without Cutoff

The subject of this article is the Kac equation without cutoff. We first show that in the asymptotic of grazing collisions, the Kac equation can be approximated by a Fokker-Planck equation. The convergence is uniform in time and we give an explicit rate of convergence. Next, we replace the small collisions by a small diffusion term in order to approximate the solution of the Kac equation and study the resulting error. We finally build a system of stochastic particles undergoing collisions and diffusion, that we can easily simulate, which approximates the solution of the Kac equation without cutoff. We give some estimates on the rate of convergence.     

Dynamics of a hard sphere granular impurity

An impurity particle coupling to its host fluid via inelastic hard sphere collisions is considered. It is shown that the exact equation for its distribution function can be mapped onto that for an impurity with elastic collisions and an effective mass. The application of this result to the Enskog-Lorentz kinetic equation leads to several conclusions: (1) every solution in the elastic case is equivalent to a class of solutions in the granular case; (2) for an equilibrium host fluid the granular impurity approaches equilibrium at a different temperature, with a dominant diffusive mode at long times; (3) for a granular host fluid in its scaling state, the granular impurity approaches the corresponding scaling solution.     

Analytic solution of the wave equation for an electron in the field of a molecule with an electric dipole moment

We relax the usual diagonal constraint on the matrix representation of the eigenvalue wave equation by allowing it to be tridiagonal. This results in a larger representation space that incorporates an analytic solution for the non-central electric dipole potential cosθ/r², which was believed not to belong to the class of exactly solvable potentials. Therefore, we were able to obtain a closed form solution of the three-dimensional time-independent Schrödinger equation for a charged particle in the field of a point electric dipole that could carry a nonzero net charge. This problem models the interaction of an electron with a molecule (neutral or ionized) that has a permanent electric dipole moment. The solution is written as a series in a basis composed of special functions that support a tridiagonal matrix representation for the angular and radial components of the wave operator. Moreover, this solution is for all energies, the discrete (for bound states) as well as the continuous (for scattering states). The expansion coefficients of the radial and angular components of the wavefunction are written in terms of orthogonal polynomials satisfying three-term recursion relations. For the Coulomb-free case, where the molecule is neutral, we calculate critical values for its dipole moment below which no electron capture is allowed. These critical values are obtained not only for the ground state, where it agrees with already known results, but also for excited states as well.